DaVita (NYSE:DVA) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on DVA. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of DaVita in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of DaVita from $164.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $184.00 price objective on shares of DaVita in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, DaVita currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $166.33.

DaVita Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:DVA opened at $151.82 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.18, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.21. DaVita has a 1-year low of $125.64 and a 1-year high of $179.60. The company has a 50-day moving average of $156.77 and a 200 day moving average of $157.44. The firm has a market cap of $12.15 billion, a PE ratio of 14.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.99.

DaVita (NYSE:DVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $2.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.10. DaVita had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 115.48%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that DaVita will post 10.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of DaVita

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of DaVita by 659.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 177,406 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,082,000 after buying an additional 154,061 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in DaVita by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $654,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in DaVita by 313.6% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 9,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,574,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new position in shares of DaVita in the third quarter valued at about $1,820,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of DaVita in the third quarter worth about $454,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.12% of the company’s stock.

DaVita Company Profile

DaVita Inc provides kidney dialysis services for patients suffering from chronic kidney failure in the United States. The company operates kidney dialysis centers and provides related lab services in outpatient dialysis centers. It also offers outpatient, hospital inpatient, and home-based hemodialysis services; operates clinical laboratories that provide routine laboratory tests for dialysis and other physician-prescribed laboratory tests for ESRD patients; and management and administrative services to outpatient dialysis centers.